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Business travelers can expect to pay 5% to 6% more for hotel rooms next year, according to a New York University study out today.

Each fall, U.S. companies and hotels agree to corporate rates and amenities for the following year, and this year, Bjorn Hanson, divisional dean of the Tisch Center for Hospitality at NYU, says the two sides are further apart than normal as negotiations get underway.

Business travelers are a lucrative market for hotels: Almost 20% of occupied U.S. room nights and almost 30% of U.S. lodging industry revenue come from corporate and contract rates, Hanson says.

Occupancy levels and average daily rates are up at hotels across the country. Now that the economy has improved and people are once again traveling, hotels aren't as willing to drop corporate rates or throw in perks such as free Wi-Fi and breakfast.

This year, the average negotiated corporate rate increased by about 5%. The average daily rate for U.S. hotels overall went up about 4.5%. Hanson based his study on interviews with industry executives and financial data.

According to STR, a Nashville-based firm that tracks hotel rates, the average daily rate for U.S. hotels through July is $109.95.

Graeme Gibson, a corporate travel manager at Dental Departures in Seattle, a network of dentists, says he is finding it much more difficult to negotiate with hotels this year.

When he started booking for Dental Departures in 2010, hotels' corporate sales managers were much more willing to negotiate down the price, he says. "While this was not during the absolute panic of 2008, it seemed that people were much more eager to have our business at a more reasonable cost," he says.

"Corporate travel managers want to do everything they can to keep pricing as flat as possible," he says. "On the supply side, we're looking for ways to drive increases wherever possible. It's critical the industry be profitable so we can continue to invest in it."

As a result of the tighter market, Hanson says that corporations will probably start sending employees to more select-service and limited-service hotels rather than luxury properties. Think Holiday Inn Express over Le Meridien.

"Some companies are trading down," Hanson says. "It may be that the guestrooms in many select-service hotels are just as nice and in some cases … nicer than traditional, full-service hotels. The rooms may be larger, the decoration more appealing to younger travelers and the informality may appeal."

To some business travelers, limited-service hotels are not a bad option because they often offer free Wi-Fi and breakfast.

"In fact, I have noticed that certain brands of select-service hotels … often deliver superior services for the business traveler over so-called luxury brands," says Roger Phelps, a promotional communications manager in Norfolk, Va.

Up until 2011, corporate travel managers were able to persuade full-service hotels to fold such perks as use of the fitness center into the negotiated rate. Not anymore, Hanson says.

"Some of the business travelers have been able to use the fitness center and not think about charging it and getting it approved, and now those travelers will have to be aware of the corporate policy," Hanson says.

Karoline Mayr, director of global travel procurement for Deltek, a Virginia software company, says that amenities are not as important to her as the rate when she's at the negotiating table.

"Best rate is the focus, not the amenities," she says. "Sometimes the hotel doesn't have the ability to lower the rate but can offer an amenity. In those cases where they don't have the flexibility to lower the rate, we would accept free breakfast or Internet."

Hanson says companies also seem more willing to let their travelers choose their own hotels rather than go for the hotel with the negotiated rate as long as they don't pay above a certain price.

That is especially appealing to young Millennials who like to make their own decisions about how they travel, Hanson says.

Mayr says social media have made it necessary to let business travelers have a say in where they stay. At Deltek, she says, employees are always sharing their reviews of hotels through an internal social media site.

"If you pick the wrong hotel, no one is going to stay there," Mayr says. "You put this effort setting up a program that people are going to reject."

Joe Bates, vice president of research for the Global Business Travel Association, says the higher rates and fewer perks won't force companies to cut down on business travel the way they did during the economic downturn. But it is changing the way they are asking their employees to work.

"For companies that are really sort of trying to keep a lid on costs ... we do see continued emphasis on doing more work and meeting more people on the same trip," he says.